1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communications apparatus and method using the Internet, and more particularly, to an automatic telephone call transfer apparatus in an Internet connection mode which automatically sets and cancels telephone call transfers to enable voice telephone communications through a line connected to the Internet, and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a user at home desires to use Internet services, the user should be connected to an Internet service provider (ISP) using a modem and a point to point protocol (PPP) which is software for the Internet connection and assigned an Internet protocol (IP) address. The user can use Internet services such as the World Wide Web (WWW) using a web browser. Also, by using an Internet phone software, one can make voice communications with other users connected to the Internet. Further, it is possible to concurrently use both voice communications through the Internet phone software and data communications such as file transfer, where an appropriate Internet service is secured.
To use the above Internet services, the following devices are usually required: a personal computer, a modem, a sound card, a microphone, speakers, an operating system (Windows 95, Mac OS, Unix, etc.), PPP, and TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol), a web browser, and an Internet phone software.
The conventional technology using the above hardware operates as follows.
First, a user drives a modem equipped in a computer to connect to a terminal server of an ISP. When the connection to a modem of the server side is completed to exchange data, the PPP software is active and an IP address is assigned from the server according to registration. On receiving the IP address, TCP/IP is ready to be driven and thus the user can connect to any hosts which are connected to the Internet using various Internet software. To use the WWW service, the user executes a web browser such as Netscape navigator or Microsoft""s Internet Explorer to connect to a desired web server, and receives data therefrom. The protocol used may be the hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) for transfer of data such as pictures, texts, and various multimedia files. Also, a software for Internet phone such as a Vocaltec""s Internet phone is used to make a voice call, by which users connected to the Internet and using the same software can make a telephone call to each other through the Internet.
However, when a user wishes to receive an ordinary telephone call through a public switched telephone network (PSTN) while using the above Internet phone service, a request for a call transfer should be made to transfer a telephone call to a telephone gateway of the ISP. The telephone exchange receiving the call transfer request makes a call to the telephone gateway of the ISP.
When the Internet service is to be terminated, the above call transfer should be canceled. If the call transfer is not canceled, other telephone calls through PSTN cannot be received.
Thus, according to the conventional technology as above, when a user wishes to make an ordinary telephone call through PSTN while using the Internet service, he/she should request a call transfer manually for each instance. Also, after making the request for a call transfer to the telephone exchange, the user must terminate the Internet service in use and cancel the call transfer in order to make or receive an ordinary telephone call through PSTN.
To solve the above problems, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an automatic call transfer apparatus in an Internet connection mode which performs setting of an automatic call transfer for Internet connection and canceling of an automatic call transfer for termination of Internet service.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a method of setting an automatic call transfer in an Internet connection mode so that a telephone call through PSTN can be received during the Internet connection.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a method of canceling an automatic call transfer in an Internet connection mode by which the automatic call transfer, which has already been set, can be canceled when the Internet connection is terminated.
Accordingly, to achieve the first objective, there is provided an automatic telephone call transfer apparatus in an Internet connection mode which comprises: an initial value setting portion which sets a telephone number of an exchange of a telephone office which performs a call transfer, a telephone number of an ISP to be subject to the call transfer, and an automatic/manual mode; an automatic call transfer setting/canceling portion which transmits data corresponding to the telephone number of an exchange of a telephone office set at the initial value setting portion, call transfer request data, and the telephone number of the ISP to be subject to the call transfer at the connection of an Internet service, and at the termination of the Internet service, transmits the number of the exchange of the telephone number set at the initial value setting portion and data for canceling the call transfer; a modem to be connected to a communication line; a telephone connection portion which makes a telephone call at the telephone number of the exchange of the telephone office received at the connection and termination of the Internet; a first switch which connects to the telephone connection portion at the connection and termination of the Internet to transmit the data from the automatic call transfer setting/canceling portion to the exchange of the telephone office through a network and then connects to the modem; a voice conversion portion which converts analog voice signals to digital signals to perform modulation and compresses and converts the signals into packet data when the voice signals are transmitted, and restores the packet data into analog signals when the voice signal is received; and a second switch which connects a telephone to the voice conversion portion in the Internet connection mode and to telephone connection portion in the other mode.
To achieve the second objective, there is provided a method for setting an automatic telephone call transfer in an Internet connection mode, the method comprising the steps of: setting an initial value for setting a telephone number of an exchange of a telephone office which performs a call transfer, a telephone number of an ISP to be subject to the call transfer, and an automatic/manual mode; converting the Internet connection mode to a telephone connection mode when the automatic/manual mode is set to an automatic mode at the beginning of the Internet connection; requesting a call transfer by making a telephone call at the telephone number of the exchange of the telephone office; transmitting call transfer data for transmitting data on the telephone number of an Internet service provider after the completion of the call transfer request; and converting the telephone connection mode to the Internet connection mode after completion of the call transfer transmitting step.
To achieve the third objective, there is provided a method for canceling an automatic telephone call transfer in an Internet connection mode in a system in which a call transfer is automatically performed by using a telephone number of an exchange of a telephone office which performs a call transfer and a telephone number of an ISP to be subject to the call transfer, the method comprising: determining whether the Internet service is terminated; converting the Internet connection mode to a telephone connection mode when the Internet service is terminated; and transmitting data for requesting the call transfer by making a telephone call to an exchange of the telephone office in the telephone connection mode.